Amethyst
by lady-warrioress
Summary: Discord has returned and he's kidnapped Twilight Sparkle. Will the other ponies be able to find her and get her back before it's too late? and what does he want with her?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle returned to the library after a long day helping Rarity design a new dress for her next fashion show. The other unicorn had her running all over Ponyville for material and gems and other items. By the time they were finished with the dress, Rarity was satisfied and Twilight's hooves hurt and she felt like she'd run a marathon.

As the purple unicorn trotted home all she could think about was lying down on her soft bed and sleeping until noon.

"Rarity sure is picky when it comes to her designs," she said to herself as she walked down the street. She yawned tiredly. "I mean what's the difference between purple and violet anyway? They look the same to me.."

Something moved behind her. She froze in her steps and glanced over her shoulder, only to see nothing but a peaceful town. She shrugged it off and kept moving, thinking to herself that it had probably just been another pony on its way home. What else would it be?

She looked up at the sky as she walked, studying the constellations. It was such a nice, clear, moonless night. She smiled, enjoying the view. Maybe she'd take out her telescope and climb onto the roof to get a better look before she went down to sleep...

Suddenly she felt a tug on her tail.

Gasping, she nearly jumped ten feet into the air. She spun around quickly but there was nothing there.

"Hello?" she called a bit nervously. "Is anyone there?"

Silence, except for the trees blowing in the night wind.

_Maybe it was just a bush, _she thought, turning back around and trolling off, a bit faster than before this time.

_"Twilight..." _

Hearing her name being called she looked sharply over her shoulder and discovered a large, very familiar mis-matched creature standing right behind her. It grinned**,** a toothy grin at her_. "Good evening, Twilight." _

"You!" she gasped, walking backwards. "Where did you... How did you?"

_"You can't get rid of me that easily, Twilight, my dear." _he said, slithering toward her.

"Stay back!" she shouted at him.

_"Oh, Twilight," _he said silkily. _"You know getting rid of me isn't that easily." _

Her horn lit up. He saw that and chuckled.

_What do you think you're going to do with that? Blast me out of the village?" _he taunted. _"Go ahead. I dare you." _

She would too. She shot a bolt of magic at him but it seemed to go right through him. Her eyes widened in shock. "It's not possible!" she gasped.

_"I told you, Twilight, your magic can't hurt me," _he told her, grinning._ "I'm the master at impossibilities!" _

He lunged at her. She yelped and galloped away, dashing toward the library. His laugh rang in her ears as she ran, making her run faster.

When she reached the library she slammed the door shut and locked it, **waking** spike who'd been sleeping. He looked up at the pony leaning against the door, sleepily. "Twilight? Are you okay?"

She **squeaked,** startled but calmed down when she saw it had only been spike talking. "Oh, it's just you, Spike."

"Yeah it's me," he said, raising an eyebrow. **"W**ho do you think it is?"

"Oh no one." she told him, glancing at the door.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "**Y**ou're acting weird."

'It's nothing!" she exclaimed, slinking away from him, grinning. "I'm just fine. I'm just a little umm**…** tired." a shadow looked like it moved outside. **S**he gasped and galloped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.

Spike looked after her then climbed out of bed and opened the window to let the owl into the library. "I wonder what's got Twilight so jumpy?" he asked it.

"Who?" the owl asked.

"Twilight." he said. **"S**he's acting real weird."

"Who?"

He gave the owl a look. "**Nevermind**." he walked away from the owl. **"**I'm going back to bed.

Meanwhile in her room, **T**wilight was on the floor, breathing heavily.

It can't have been him," she said to herself. "**W**e defeated him. It was probably just my imagination." she took a deep breath to calm down. "That's it, twilight. **I**t was your imagination. You've been working too hard." **She** got up and trotted over to her bed. **"**Yeah, it's just stress. **I**t has to be. It's not like he escaped. I mean Ponyville isn't acting weird or anything."

She climbed into bed, deciding to just forget about it. It had to be her imagination, after all her magic had gone right through him. That had to mean he wasn't real, right?

"There's no way he could come back," she said, using her horns magic to pull the curtains over the windows and pull the blanket over herself. **"My friends and I** defeated him." She yawned tiredly. "I must be more tired than I thought..."

Even so it took her awhile to fall asleep.

When she finally got to sleep she started dreaming about Discord. He'd broken free from his stone prison and was causing utter chaos all over Equestrian. What made it worse was that the elements of harmony had been destroyed and her friends had all turned against her and she could not fix it this time.

**And just** when she thought things couldn't get any worse the ground below her opened and she was sent plummeting into a bottomless pit, waking up screaming.

She gasped, opening her eyes and looking around frantically. She was in her nice safe bedroom and nothing was in utter chaos. She looked in the mirror. Her horn was still there.

"Just a dream," she said, relieved. **"**It was just a dream."

"Is it?" a voice spoke behind her.

She gasped, looking over her shoulder. Nothing.

The room was dark and full of shadows. It didn't look like her room anymore, lacking any light. She shuddered, dreading what she might see. Was one of those shadows moving? No, it had to be her imagination.

She nodded to herself. Yes, it had to be it. She laid her head back onto the pillow and tried to get back to sleep. She was just beginning to doze off when she felt a tug on her tail, making her jump up and looked around, wide awake. "Who's there?"

"**T**wilight..."

She froze. That voice...

"**T**wilight..."

Slowly she turned around. Behind her loomed discord, grinning at her.

The next segment of events flashed by quickly**: S**he jumped off the bed only to be tackled by him and grabbed. She struggled and tried to scream only to have a gag tried around her muzzle. As she squealed and kicked he grabbed her up and threw her into a sack, tying the top.

He chuckled and threw the sack over his shoulder before opening the window and climbing out. Then, without another look back, he slunk out of **P**onyville, taking his struggling captive with him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning Spike woke up to the sound of someone knocking agitatedly on the front door. "I'm coming," he called yawning as he walked toward the door. He had no idea why anyone would be knocking on the library door so early in the morning - didn't anyone these days have any respect for common courtesy?

"Hold your horses, wait you probably are a horse..."

He opened the door and his eyes widened when he saw who it was. "Rarity!" What was she doing there?

"Good morning, Spike," the white unicorn with the purple mane greeted him a bit shortly. "I'm not here for pleasantries, is Twilight here? She was supposed to help me finish my dress designs today but she never showed up and she knows how I hate being left waiting."

Spike blinked; confused by her statement.

"She didn't?"

That didn't sound like Twilight at all. She was usually so punctual.

"No, she did not," she said, sounding a little annoyed that she had to repeat herself. "Now, is she here? It is quite rude for someone to make a promise and not keep it without informing her friend she wouldn't be able to."

She clopped into the library and looked around thoughtfully.

"Is she in her room?"

"I don't know..." Suddenly he took note of the time. "Noon?" Twilight never slept that long, in fact, she never let him sleep that late either.

"Yes, noon," Rarity said, as she trotted up the stairs. She closed her eyes, turning her head as she spoke.

"That is why I am here." She knocked briskly on the closed bedroom door.

"Twilight, are you in there?"

There was no answer, so she knocked again a bit harder. "Now come on, Twilight it isn't like you to go around ignoring your friends."

Still no response.

"Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed, banging her hooves on the door.

"Open this door this instant!"

When the unicorn didn't answer Rarity made a face and shoved at the door, swinging it open.

"Come now Twilight, I think you're being very rude ignoring me like tha-" she stopped in mid sentence when she saw the room.

"What? What is it?" Spike peeked into the room and gasped.

It was a mess - there were books, quill pens and papers lying strewn all over the place. The blanket on the bed was bunched up and the pillows were knocked on the floor. It looked like Twilight had gotten into a fight with someone and lost or she'd lost something and had torn up her room desperately trying to find it.

"Oh my!" Rarity exclaimed, walking slowly inside. She looked around cautiously, as if she expected someone or something to jump at her.

"Twilight? Twilight, are you in here? Are you all right?"

No response.

Rarity looked at Spike then gingerly clopped over to the bed and removed the covers to find it empty.

"She's not here!" she gasped.

"Not here?" Spike asked, looking around. "Where'd she go then?"

She frowned. Obviously, she'd expected him to be able to answer that question and she was very distressed that he couldn't.

"Has Twilight ever done this before?" she inquired, a tone of desperation in her voice. "Does she have a special place she likes to go to be alone for awhile?"

"No - never." Spike told her in answer to the first question.

"Twilight is usually up before I am. She wakes me up..." he frowned. "and as for a secret place; No, she isn't the kind of pony to do that sort of thing."

Rarity stared at him. "You mean she's never done this before?"

When he shook his head she gasped.

"You don't think something has happened to her, do you?"

Spike wasn't willing to believe that right away and shook his head. The white unicorn frowned.

"The mess her room is in shows no other alternative solution."

"I don't know..." The baby dragon looked around the room again, hoping to see something that would give him a clue to Twilight Sparkle's whereabouts. His eyes eventually fell on something on the floor.

"What's this?" he padded over and picked it up, studying it carefully.

"Hmmm? What's that?" Rarity asked.

"It looks like fur," he said after a moment of contemplation. "Brown fur." he gave it a sniff and made a face, sticking out his tongue. "Disgustingly smelly brown fur. P. U!"

"Fur?" she trotted over. "Twilight bought herself a fur coat without saying anything? You'd think she'd at least tell me, especially if it smelled ba-" when she got a close look at the fur her eyes widened.

The baby dragon looked up at her curiously, wondering why she'd reacted in such a way.

"What's wrong?"

Her face suddenly changed and became very serious. She'd seen and smelled fur like that before and it left a vivid memory in her mind, especially since the owner had tricked her into thinking a boulder was a giant diamond.

"Discord!"

"Discord?" he asked, blinking. "But I thought-"

Suddenly she grabbed him up and threw him onto her back before he could even finish his sentence. "No time for dawdling now, Spike, we must tell the others of this travesty!" She galloped quickly out of the library with Spike hanging on for dear life.

* * *

><p>Twilight Sparkle woke up to a splitting headache from a blow to the head. Moaning she sat up, rubbing her poor head and opening her eyes to complete darkness. Gasping she shot to her hooves, hearing a loud clinking noise as she did so. She froze, listening.<p>

"Who's there?"

The only response she got was utter silence. No one was there at all, so what had made that noise? The purple unicorn turned her head, realizing then she was blind folded. No wonder she couldn't see anything. What had made that noise? Had it been her imagination? She moved her head, hearing the clinking again.

"Huh?" she raised a hoof, feeling a heavy metal collar around her neck. She pulled back slightly, feeling a tug. A heavy metal chain. The collar was connected to a chain. Panic shot through her when she realized she was a prisoner. She tugged on the chain again, trying to pull it loose but it refused to give as it was attached firmly to the wall behind her.

"Come on!" she shouted, yanking hard on it. "Break loose!"

The chain had no intention of complying, not that it was sentient, anyway.

Eventually she gave up and sat down with a sigh. She wasn't going to get out that way. It had been stupid to even waste energy trying.

"What am I doing?" She asked herself suddenly "I'll use my magic." She closed her eyes behind the blindfold and concentrated. Nothing happened. In fact, she didn't even have her horn to use her magic with. It was gone as if it had never been there.

"Discord..." she breathed realizing what had happened. It had to be him.

"Did somebody call me?" a voice spoke up suddenly.

She gasped, turning her head. He was there, but where? She wished she could see so she could prepare herself for combat, if necessary. Footsteps came toward her.

"G-get back!" she exclaimed, backing up against the cold stone wall.

"Stay away from me!" It was bad enough she couldn't see him, she didn't want him near her or even touching her.

"Or you'll what?" he asked. "Use your little Element of Magic on me? You seem to forget you don't have you horn and the rules are different here because you see-" his voice was suddenly right next to her. "- I make the rules in this place."

She gasped and backed away, pressing against the wall even harder, looking around frantically trying to locate where Discord was hiding in the darkness.

The voice was right next to her now making her shriek and twist away.

"What's wrong, Twilight? Are you afraid?" the voice suddenly moved to the front of her. "Is this the same pony that stood up to me even when her friends were not interested in helping?"

She darted away again, reaching the end of the chain, She gagged and fell over.

She heard him laughing as she got up, shaking her head. "Twilight, you should know better. I have you on a leash, remember?" she heard it jingling and then a tug. "Running won't help you."

"Why don't you give me back my horn and then we'll see who runs!" she shot back, trying to sound brave.

He chuckled. "Oh, Twilight, always with the bravado." He pulled on the chain, bringing her closer even as she dug her hooves into the ground in an attempt to stop him. "Let me reiterate; I make the rules here. You'll just have to learn them."

"What rules?" she demanded. "You don't have any rules!"

"My dear Twilight," he yanked on the chain again, pulling her closer. "Don't you remember the game we played? Of course I have rules, they're just ... more unconventional than what you're used to." he tugged once more. "And I want to play another game."

"I don't want to play your games!" She yelled in what she thought was his face. Discord tugged again violently, knocking her off her hooves. She hit the floor face first, grunting in pain on impact.

"I've had enough of them."

"Oh Twilight," he said darkly as he pulled her closer still, dragging her across the floor. "I'm afraid you don't have a choice." he gave a mighty yank and she flew toward him with a shriek of surprise.

He caught her which made her kick out with her hooves until he set her down, though he kept a grip on her mane. "Let go!" she ordered, trying to back away from him. "I said I didn't want to play! Just let me go!"

He chuckled, keeping a strong hand on her back to hold her still. He cupped her chin and lifted her head to directly face him.

"It's too late for you to deny the invitation," he told her smoothly. "You see, I already have you, so you'll just have to play the game and accept my rules."

She gritted her teeth, tempted to spit on his face. He was messing with her, waiting for her to ask him what he meant. He was a chaotic being, so this game of his could be anything and have any kinds of rules. No doubt, it was going to be incredibly sadistic. If she asked she might actually break one which would be worse than not.

"Not asking?" he questioned. "Good move. You're learning already."

"Wha-what do you mean by that?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." He replied, flashing her a sickeningly complacent smile in the darkness.

Then, before she could inquire further he snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving her alone once more with only the fading echo of his laughter to keep her company.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Whoa, Rarity! Slow down!" Spike shouted, gripping the white unicorn's dark purple mane as she galloped madly through Ponyville. He was being bounced around like a basketball. "I'm going to fall off!"

"I'm sorry, Spike but we must hurry," she told him rather dramatically as she trotted along. "Speed is of the essence, especially if we want to rescue our dear Twilight from the claws of that dreadful villain."

"But, Rarity," he began to argue. "How can it be Discord? You and the others defeated him months ago!"

"I don't have the faintest idea," she replied, truthfully. How would she know? How would anyone know? "All I am aware of is that he's back and he's kidnaped our dear Twilight!"

"But how do you even know it's him?"

"That fur you found," she responded. "I'd recognize that color and" - here she made an awful face as if the memory disgusted her.-" smell anywhere."

Spike hadn't really gotten a good look at Discord during the brief period he'd actually seen him so he would just have to take her word for it. He just wondered if the others would be as willing to think it was him and...If it was him what did he want with Twilight anyway?

The baby dragon figured they'd all find out eventually, if Rarity's hypothesis was right and Twilight hadn't just gone out on a quest for the princess or something.

He started to ask her about this but by then they'd run into Pinkie Pie. The pink pony, who was standing just outside her aunt and uncles sweet shop, smiled and waved a hoof when she saw them. "Hey, Rarity and Spike!" the hyperactive pony called.

The unicorn ran up to her and grabbed her tail in her teeth. "No time for pleasantries," she responded all business like, "we have a problem!"

"Hey!" the pink mare exclaimed, being drug down the street. "Watch it! That's the only tail I have!" then she noticed Spike riding the white unicorn. "Hey, Spike, what's up?" she asked as if she'd totally forgotten her friend was dragging her away.

"Discord." he said.

"Discord?" Pinkie Pie giggled. "Oh, Spike, you're so silly!" she patted his head with a hoof. "That's a funny joke. If Discord was up we'd all be down!" she gasped. "Unless you plan on becoming Discord! Oh Spike, why would you do such a thing?"

Spike facepalmed. Something told him it would take quite a bit of explaining before Pinkie Pie finally understood what he was talking about. He wasn't looking forward to doing it either because the pink mare tended to make people get confused after a while by asking random questions.

Rarity galloped all the way to Fluttershy's home. The kind pink and yellow Pegasus was out feeding some baby bunnies but she looked up when Rarity and the others called to her.

"Good afternoon," she said with her soft voice, smiling. "Are you here to help me feed the baby animals?"

Two of the bunnies looked up at the other creatures with big baby eyes as if they were asking the same question.

Before Rarity could reply Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Spike wants to become Discord!"

"What?" the yellow pegasus asked totally confused.

"It's true!" Pinkie Pie rambled on before anyone had a chance to correct her. "He told me himself!"

Fluttershy looked at Spike who waved his hands in front of himself. "Hold on!" he exclaimed. "I didn't say that at all! I'd never want to be like Discord!"

"Exactly!" Rarity exclaimed, stamping a hoof into the ground as if that settled the matter.

"Then why did he say that?" Pinkie Pie wanted to know.

"I didn't!" the baby dragon protested.

"You did!"

"Did not!"

"Umm..." Fluttershy cut in shyly. "Can you two not fight; you're scaring the bunnies..."

They both looked at her to see three little bunnies cowering behind the yellow pegasus.

"Oh, sorry." Spike and Pinkie Pie said, backing away from each other.

Rarity stepped forward. "Anyway, the problem is not about Spike." she gave Pinkie Pie a look that clearly told her not to say anything further. "Spike is not trying to become Discord. He meant he was talking about Discord."

Fluttershy looked at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Rarity looked at her intently. "Discord has kidnapped Twilight!"

Fluttershy and Pinkie both gasped, shocked. "What?" the yellow pegasus asked.

"Yes!" Rarity confirmed dramatically. "He came right into her room and took her!"

Suddenly Pinkie Pie giggled.

"What's so funny?" the unicorn demanded.

"How can Discord kidnap Twilight?" she asked, giggling. "He's a stone statue!"

"Obviously he's not," Rarity said hotly. "Because he has taken her."

"Umm how do you know?" Fluttershy asked carefully. She did not want to draw the same conclusion, partly because of what he'd done to her, and partly because she did not have any desire to confront the creature again. "I mean do you have any proof that he took Twilight?"

"I have this!" she claimed, using her horn's magic to show them the fur.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both leaned toward it to get a better look. After a moment Fluttershy let out a little shriek and backed up, looking scared. The bunnies hid behind her. Pinkie Pie on the other hand prodded the fur with a hoof. "How did you get that from him anyway?" she asked. "Did you chop it off with a knife?"

"We didn't get it from him," the white unicorn retorted. "It was on the floor in Twilight's bedroom."

The other ponies gasped.

"You mean Discord broke into Twilight's bedroom?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

"But why would he want Twilight?" Pinkie Pie wanted to know.

No one could answer that question.

After a moment, Fluttershy looked at Rarity. "We should tell Applejack and Rainbow Dash what happened," she said. "If it's not too much trouble."

Rarity stamped a hoof. "Of course we'll tell them!" she exclaimed. "They must know about this too!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, determined. She was starting to get really into it. "It will take all five of us to save Twilight from that creepy creep!"

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Rarity stated. "And the sooner the better!"

She looked at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, see if you can find Rainbow Dash." The pegasus nodded as the unicorn turned to Pinkie pie. "Pinkie Pie, you get Applejack."

"Okeey dokie, Loki!" the pink pony nodded.

"Umm what are you going to do?" Fluttershy asked carefully.

"Spike and I will do some more investigating," Rarity replied dramatically. "Surely someone saw something and it's up to us to find out what!" then she galloped away with the poor baby dragon clinging to her back.

The other two ponies watched her run off then looked at each other. "Well I think I'll go get Applejack now," Pinkie Pie said, trotting off.

Fluttershy nodded, taking flight. Finding Rainbow Dash might take a while so she knew she had to start looking right away. Plus, she was worried about Twilight and wanted to find her as soon as possible before something terrible happened to her.

"I just hope Twilight's all right," she said as she flew off into the sky.

* * *

><p>Twilight Sparkle rubbed her muzzle against the floor, hoping dislodge the blindfold impairing her vision.<p>

It had been hours since Discord had taunted her and she was feeling relieved enough to try to regain her vision. She didn't know why he'd blindfolded her but something told her that he was trying to keep her from seeing where she was.

But why?

Why would he hide that from her, especially since he took such precaution to make sure she couldn't escape anyway? Was it part of that game he'd mentioned? Or was it something else, something much more important?

Well Twilight was determined to find out. Even if she had no idea where this place was at least being able to see it would help her feel better. The cloth felt like it was loosening up and she rubbed harder, hoping to make it fall off finally.

After what seemed like forever the blindfold slipped away from her eyes and rested up on her forehead like a bandana and she was now able to get her first look at the place where Discord was holding her captive.

She seemed to be in some kind of dungeon cell, though it didn't look exactly like one, unless he'd let a bunch of fillies loose in it. The walls were covered in bright colored paint in odd shapes and sizes. Some of the lines looked like they were drawings of ponies but she couldn't be sure of that. And the floors colors contrasted horribly with the wall, being plaid and polka dotted. It was a mass chaos of colors, just what Discord was known for.

She stared at her surroundings, confused. Where in the world was she?

She looked at the wall and trotted over, running her hoof over the drawings. Suddenly the pony drawing she had touched seemed to come alive, turning its head and grinning madly at her, chuckling insanely.

Twilight gasped and backed up. The wall before her rippled slightly then went back to normal. She blinked totally confused. What had that been?

Discord was probably playing with her head, she figured, or his influence was just doing what it was created to do and that was actually a normal occurrence in this place. Either way she didn't want a repeat of it and she kept her distance from the walls.

She sat down, looking around herself. The room had a window but it was too high for her to climb out of and she could see what looked like storm clouds outside. These weren't pink or raining chocolate milk either.

"I wonder if he's keeping the chaos locked up inside this place so his location isn't given away," she mused.

That sounded logical. It was obvious he had no intention of being found any time soon, but she wondered how long that would last. Discord liked madness; it amused him. It would only be a matter of time before his true nature got the best of him and he started causing trouble.

How long would that be, though?

She had no intention of sticking around long enough to find out.

The purple unicorn looked down at the metal collar around her neck and the chain connecting it to a metal peg on the wall. There had to be a way to get this thing off her. She pawed at the chain with her hoof, looking thoughtful.

"Hmmm..."

"Something on your mind, Twilight Sparkle?" a voice spoke up.

She gasped and turned toward the door of her cell. Discord stood outside it looking in at her. He wasn't happy.

"Discord!" she exclaimed. How long had he been standing there?

"You just had to do it, didn't you?" he demanded, looking both hurt and annoyed at the same time. "You just had to go and break the rules."

Twilight jumped to her hooves, facing him directly. What did he mean by that? How had she broken his rules? She was about to ask him that but he suddenly snapped his fingers and disappeared, taking her with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Pinkie Pie dashed straight to Sweet Apple Acresm - the place where Applejack lived with her family, shouting the other mare's name.

"Applejack! Applejack! We have a problem!"

Unfortunately, the only pony visable was Applejack's older brother Big macontosh. He was pulling a plow through the fields.

Pinkie Pie galloped over to him. "Mac! Have you seen Applejack?"

"Eeeeyup," he said.

"Where is she? Where is she?" Pinkie Pie demanded, bouncing up and down.

Mac realised immediately from her demeanour she was there on urgent business. He nodded his head toward the barn.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed before trotting off toward the barn, shouting the mare's name at the top of her lungs.

Applejack was doing her chores in the barn, sweeping it out when she heard Pinkie Pie shouting her name.

"Applejack, what are you doing cleaning out the barn?" the pink mare demanded, startling the brown pony. "We have bigger problems right now!"

"Whoa there, sugarcube!" Applejack exclaimed, dropping her broom in surprise broom. "Simmer down now!"

"I can't!" she exclaimed, placing her hooves on her friend's cheeks and squeezing them together slightly. "Twilight's been taken prisoner by Discord and Rarity asked me to get you!"

"Discord?" she inquired, struggling to get words out through her friend's hooves. "But that varment's been turned to stone."

"Apparently not." the pink pony started dragging her out of the barn. "Now come on!"

"Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, having no choice but to follow.

* * *

><p>Finding Rainbow Dash proved much harder than finding Applejack had been. First; the sky was a big place and second; some of the other Pegasus bore some resemblance to her, especially when they were all racing around miles above the ground.<p>

Fluttershy flew all over Cloudsdale, trying to catch a glimpse of the rainbow adorned pegasus. So far she hadn't been successful.

"I hope she wasn't sent out to help with the clouds..." she said to herself, gliding over a small cloud.

She landed on a cluster of clouds and looked around. "Rainbow Dash!" she called out in vain, as her soft voice wasn't very loud would be near impossible to hear in the vast expanse of the sky. "Rainbow Dash, please come out!"

A group of clouds passed by behind her, causing her to turn and spot a few pegasus pushing them.

Maybe they knew where Rainbow Dash was?

Flapping her wings, the yellow colored pony left the clouds she'd been standing on and flew toward the other ponies. "Excuse me..." she called softly.

The other pegasus didn't seem to hear her as they continued pushing the clouds. She floated higher and buzzed around them, trying to get their attention. "Um, excuse me." she said again.

One of the pegasus looked at her. "What?"

"I um... don't mean to interrupt your work but I was wondering if you could help me." she replied shyly. She was far too reserved to be confident in talking to ponies she didn't know very well.

"What do you want?" inquired a brown colored pegasus with a pink main and a chocolate covered cutie mark.

"Well, you see," she fluttered around them as they worked. "I'm looking for a pegasus.. with a rainbow colored main and cutie mark..."

"Rainbow Dash?" a green colored pony with a lime cutie mark asked.

"Yes! Have you seen her?"

"I wish," the other pony said. "She was supposed to help us move the clouds today but she never showed up."

"Do you know where she is?" she asked, suddenly worried that something had happened to her friend. Rainbow Dash wasn't known for skimping her duties.

"Probably off somewhere taking a nap," another pony replied, shoving the cloud.

"A nap?" she asked. "That doesn't sound like Rainbow Dash. She's usually very reliable."

"When you see her you tell her that," the pegasus replied as they pushed the cloud away.

"Wait!" she called after them.

They were ignoring her, focusing completely on their task. She sighed, lowering her head. "I guess I'll have to keep looking..."

* * *

><p>Like Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike weren't getting much luck in their search for information, No one seemed to have seen anything the night before that could clue them in on where or why Discord had taken Twilight Sparkle. It was becoming very frustrating as the white unicorn wailed about it not too long after they started their investigation.<p>

"It's hopeless!" she whined, flopping dramatically onto a nearby bench. "We're no closer to finding her than when we started!"

"Come on, Rarity," Spike said, placing a claw on her flank. "Don't give up yet."

"Why not?" she asked, rolling onto her stomach. "We've failed!"

"We've only asked three people," he pointed out.

"Three very important people!" she whined.

He raised a brow. The three people they'd asked weren't as important as Rarity had claimed, seeing as they'd been the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were usually in bed early so there'd been no way the three fillies could have seen what happened as they themselves had explained to her, although they would be sure to keep an eye out for her.

"We might as well give up!" Rarity moaned.

Man, what a drama queen. Spike thought as he poked her to get her attention.

"What?" she asked, looking at him.

"If we give up not we'll never find out where Discord took Twilight," he pointed out. "If we don't find her she'll never forgive us. Do you really want him to keep her? He could be doing anything to her right now."

That seemed to shake her out of her previous mood rather quickly. "You're right, spike!" she exclaimed, getting up suddenly. "We can't let our dear Twilight down! We must save her from that ruffian!" she jumped off the bench and pulled him back onto her back. "Now, then, who should we question next?"

Spike thought a moment. How would they make this faster? Suddenly he got an idea. "Why don't we ask the Cutie Mark Crusaders to help us?"

"Of course." she nodded and trotted over to the three little fillies.

"Hello again, girls." she said in a business like fashion.

"Hello, sis!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, trotting over her to sister. "Did you want to ask us anymore questions about Twilight?"

"Yeah," Applebloom said. "We'd love to help but you know we have to retire for the evening early."

"Yes, I know," she responded. "I had a different idea."

"What's that, Miss Rarity?" the fillies asked in one voice.

"Why don't you girls help me ask around the village to see if anyone saw Discord take Twilight?"

"Sure!" they exclaimed, suddenly very agreeable to the idea.

"Maybe if we help you we'll get our cutie marks and save Twilight at the same time!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle agreed we can be uh..."

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rescuers!" Applebloom spoke up excitedly.

Rarity frowned. They didn't seem to be taking this very seriously. "Umm girls..."

It was too late. They galloped off and began their questioning of the town's residents acting like police interrogators and annoying everyone.

Rarity sighed and glared at Spike. "How was I supposed to know they'd do that?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and trotted down the street. "Oh, never mind," she sighed, shaking her head. "Let's just continue our investigation, if Sweetie Belle and her friends didn't scare every pony off, that is."

* * *

><p>Twilight and Discord appeared in another room half a second later. This one was much different from her cell. It looked drab and empty as if his influence never touched this part of the castle.<p>

She looked around herself, wondering why he'd brought her there. It didn't seem all that important.. or maybe it was and was just another part of his game. Maybe a penalty for breaking whatever rule she's unintentionally violated.

She didn't ask, after having figured he'd tell her himself and relish doing it at the same time.

He said nothing right away, instead deciding to drag things out. He grabbed the chain which was still attached to the collar around her neck and dragged her down the halls even though she had her hooves dug down into the ground to try and prevent him from moving her. He was much stronger than her, however, and she found out she had no choice.

Sometimes later they exited the hallway and stepped out onto a balcony.

She looked around, taking in the dark storm clouds. A brisk cold wind buffeted her body, making her shiver. Why were they there? What was going on? She looked at Discord, expecting an answer.

For the longest moment He said nothing. He didn't' even look at her, instead surveying the landscape visible from the balcony. It was like he'd become a stone statue again, though she knew that wasn't the case since his mane and other mammalian parts quivered slightly in the wind.

"Discord?"

Suddenly, he lifted her above the balcony railing and held her there for a few seconds. Twilight bucked in his grasp, trying to avoid the inevitable as long as she could, but to no avail. Without saying a word, Discord looked directly into her eyes, grinned a toothy, complacent grin and released his grip on her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Fluttershy was still having no luck finding Rainbow Dash; she felt like she'd been flying all over the sky and not finding anyone but other ponies, and indeed, this was her exact predicament. The ponies that she had manage to catch the attention of weren't that helpful either. She started theorizing that Rainbow Dash had perhaps disappeared off the face of Equestria. She landed on a cloud to rest for a moment.

"Where is she hiding?" she sighed to herself "This isn't like Rainbow Dash at all, she wouldn't go off like this without telling anyone where she was going..." she mused to herself aloud.

As she sat there on the cloud, a horrible thought came to her. Had Rainbow Dash run into trouble? Had she seen Discord taking Twilight away and tried to stop him only to fail? Was she laying injured or worse, dead somewhere? The yellow mare shuddered, not wanting to dwell on such thoughts. That couldn't be what happened, after all - Rainbow Dash was too smart to allow such a thing to happen to her. Wasn't she? Sometimes she did get a big conceited ... maybe she had seen it happen and thought she could be the hero?

Hopefully Rainbow Dash had just decided to spend the day with her pet Tank or something less dangerous and terrible. Maybe they'd gone to the gorge for a picnic? She pushed herself off the cloud, flapping her wing and flew off to the place, hoping she was right. It did sound like something Rainbow would do, after all and picnics with tortoises were sweet and not the least bit hazardous.

"Rainbow Dash!" she called, flying into the vast gorge and looking around nervously. "Rainbow Dash! Are you here? Please answer me!"

After an hour spent searching every nook and cranny of the gorge, she had come up with nary a hair from her multicoloured friend. As she flew out of the gorge she began to feel a sense of fear take over her.

"No, that can't be what happened," she said to herself, thinking about her previous theory. "She can't have gotten into a fight with Discord, not Rainbow Dash..."

Fluttershy remembered Rainbow Dash had the strongest feelings towards being tricked by Discord out of all the ponies and had taken it very personally. Fluttershy decided to find the others and tell them her fears. She knew her friends wouldn't be very happy about it, she wasn't either. First Twilight, and now Rainbow Dash?

"Oh, I hope I'm wrong," she whispered to herself as she flew back to Ponyville.

* * *

><p>Pinkie Pie got Applejack all caught up on the current crisis as the two ponies galloped back to Ponyville. She was incredibly shocked to hear what had happened to Twilight and who was responsible. She couldn't believe what had happened to the purple unicorn and determined to help the others find her, and of course find out if it really had been Discord who'd done it. They both seemed to jump to that conclusion rather quickly, but she wasn't so sure.<p>

"And then Spike showed us some smelly fur that fell off Discord and that's when Rarity figured out it was him who took her."

"She figured that all out just by looking at some smelly fur?" Applejack asked, raising a brow.

"Yes!" Pinkie Pie nodded. It made perfect sense to her after all. "That's exactly how it happened."

Applejack nodded, though she wanted to see the fur for herself and draw her own conclusions. It wasn't that she didn't trust Rarity's word, it was just because the unicorn was known to over dramatize things. She did somewhat trust her friend's own conclusions, but seeing the crime scene first hand allow her to put things in context easier.

"So where is Rarity now?" she asked her as they trotted into Ponyville.

"I think she's questioning people on the events of last night," Pinkie Pie replied, looking around the village. "Why?"

"To see if anyone actually spotted him taking off with Twilight," Pinkie Pie frowned at her. It was apparent she thought Applejack should already know this.

"Do you think she'll find anyone?" she asked her. Pinkie Pie shrugged. "I don't know but I'm positive someone has seen her," she looked ahead, spotting Rarity. "There she is! Maybe she found something!"

She trotted toward the unicorn.

"Wait up!" Applejack called, galloping after her.

"Rarity!" Pinkie pie shouted as she and Applejack ran up to the white unicorn. "Have you found out anything?"

Rarity turned to them both; her face looked funny and her mane was all messed up.

"Rarity - no offense but you look like you've been spending all day wallowing with the hogs," Applejack snorted.

"I was not playing in the dirt with pigs!" she exclaimed, sounding hysterical.

"Umm Okay.. then why are you so..."

"Messy?" Pinkie Pie spoke up. She glared at them then burst into tears.

"Rarity?" Applejack inquired, the worry in her voice coming through clearly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm useless!" she whined dramatically. "I can't find any information on Twilight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders scared off all the ponies so I can't even questions them!" she flopped over, wailing. Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked at each other.

"Uh..." the two mares looked at Spike who was walking over to them. He paused when he saw them.

"What?" he asked, raising a brow. "What are you staring at me for?"

"Do you know what in tarnation she's talking about?" Applejack asked him.

"Well, you see." he sighed. It was quite apparent he didn't want to explain. "Okay, Rarity was having a hard time finding information about Twilight so I suggested she ask her sister and her friends to help us and well..." in the distance a tumbleweed rolled down the deserted street. "They kind of went a little overboard.."

"Is that all?" "Yeah, kinda," he said, looking down at the ground and going red. Applejack looked up, seeing her sister Applebloom and her friends cornering a brown stallion who looked terrified.

"All right, talk!" Scootaloo snarled at him. "We know you saw something last night so open up and tell us!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the poor stallion whined, shaking. "I was at home with my family last night!"

"I think you're lying," she said, grinning evilly as she stared at him. "The truth! Now!"

"I'm telling the truth!"

"Girls!" Applejack shouted. Three fillies looked over at her in unison.

"Uh oh..." Applebloom moaned. "We're in trouble now."

Applejack strode over to them, fury blazing in her eyes "What do you three think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Helping ... Rarity?" Sweetie Belle replied, nervously.

"By scaring away all the residents in Ponyville?" she gestured to the empty streets.

"Oops..." Sweetie belle gave a nervous laugh, grinning guiltily.

"We were only trying to help," Applebloom sulked.

"Well, sugar cubes, it was nice and all that you wanted to help but you did it the wrong way," she explained. "Treating everypony like criminals isn't going to get you the information you want , it'll only freak them out."

"We're sorry," Scootaloo spoke up. "We didn't mean to scare everypony. Honestly." She nodded.

"I know, but you should still try to be a little nicer next time."

"Yes, Applejack." they said in one voice. The mare nodded. "Now, why don't you three go over there and apologize to Rarity?" she suggested, turning her head toward the source of Ponyville's current drama. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it." Before Applejack had even finished her sentence, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had already started galloping over the Rarity, apologizing profusely.

Applejack followed after them and spoke again after the crusaders apologized to rarity. "Now, why don't start from the top? Let's all split up and choose one sections of Ponyville each," she began. "We can cover more ground that way and learn something faster... and no intimidation." she said, giving the crusaders a scathing look. "Now, get along little varmints!"

Off they went, excited to have something to do again. Rarity looked at Applejack as the others ran off.

"Thank you, Applejack," she said.

"No problem, sugar cube," she said. "Now why don't you come with me and tell me the entire story about Twilight and Discord while we ask questions?"

* * *

><p>Twilight let out a yelp as he threw her over the side and she started to plummet only to have her voice cut off when the collar jerked as she ceased falling. She opened her eyes, surprised to see herself only a few feet below the balcony and was breathing heavily and sparsely with fear as she looked around herself. She lifted her head to look up at Discord who held the end of the chain in his claws. He grinned at her, highly amused by her fear.<p>

"Discord, pull me up!" she exclaimed, curling her hooves up, even though that really wouldn't protect her if she fell.

"Hmmm..." he leaned on the railing, putting a hand up to his chin, in a mock thoughtful gesture. "Now why would I want to do that?"

"Stop playing games and pull me up! This isn't funny!" she shouted.

"You don't like my sense of humor?" he asked. Suddenly a tissue appeared beside him. 'I'm hurt." he blew his nose dramatically then flicked the tissue away with disappeared with a loud pop.

"Discord pull me up!" she screamed.

"No, I don't think I will." he let go of the chain instead.

"Bye bye, Twilight!" She screamed, plummeting heavily toward the ground far below. Suddenly there was a funny noise and Discord appeared beside her.

"Isn't this fun?" he asked her as they fell together.

"We're so high up it will take at least a minute for us to reach the ground." He disappeared again and appeared on her other side.

"I'm sure your friends will love to find a twilight pancake." he grinned and vanished again, popping out above her. "Too bad you don't have your horn anymore." He poked her forehead complacently. He vanished again and popped up below her.

"I'm sure you don't want pancakes to be on the menu, so I'll make you a deal." he now appeared in front of her.

'You promise not to break anymore rules and I'll save you, deal?" he tickled her chin. "Fine!" she shouted, only agreeing so he'd save her.

"I'll play by your rules!"

Discord grinned. "Very good then." he snapped his fingers and they both disappeared, popping up again on the balcony. Twilight lay on the floor, gasping in terror. That had been a little too close. He smirked and grabbed the chain.

"Come along, Twilight." he said, dragging her back inside the building. "The fun's just beginning."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Fluttershy hovered over Ponyville, hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends, through the roofs, chimneys, and trees blocking her view. She needed to tell them what she suspected as soon as possible, or at least tell them that Rainbow Dash was missing. The former might make her sound paranoid. She looked from left to right, over the village, her aqua colored eyes scanning the streets and alleys for any sight of her friends. So far all she saw was a deserted village, which was rather strange for that time of day. She wondered where everyone had gotten to.

Had something bad happened to them too?

No, that was silly. She'd just talked to them a few hours ago; it was highly unlikely that anything bad had happened in the meantime. But what if...?

Fluttershy shook her head. She couldn't allow herself to think such things. Now was not a good time to go into a panic.

"Calm down, Fluttershy," she ordered herself. "You must remain calm. Discord couldn't have come back to get them and I don't think they'd go off and look for her without you." she took deep breaths to calm herself down and clear her mind

When she was pretty much calm again she sighed and flew off toward the center of town toward the bakery. Pinkie Pie's Aunt and Uncle would be able to tell her where they went.

The yellow pegasus landed in front of the sweet shop and knocked gently on the door with her hoof. "Hello?" she called out softly. "Is anyone home?"

Pinkie Pie's aunt, Mrs Cake, peeked out of the door, cautiously. She relaxed a little when she saw it was only Fluttershy. "Hello, dear." she said.

"Um... are you okay?" the pegasus asked worriedly, noticing the look on the older mare's face.

The older mare nodded, glancing around a little anxiously. "Are the Cutie Mark Crusaders with you?" she asked nervously.

"What?" she blinked. "Oh no, I'm here by myself."

"Good." the pony grabbed her and yanked her inside the building. "Come on in, before they see you."

Fluttershy looked at her confused. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Shhh!" the mare hissed. "Keep your voice down! I don't want them to hear you."

"Who?"

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders."

The pegasus looked confused by her statement. What was she talking about? "Excuse me?" she asked.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders," Mrs Cake said, looking out the window. "They've gone crazy."

"Crazy?" she didn't get it. "Oh no. I know the Cutie Mark Crusaders can be a little spirited but they're not crazy."

"They're crazy." the mare insisted, looking back toward the window. "They've been chasing people around all day asking them questions about that ruffian Discord."

Fluttershy blinked. Why would the Cutie Mark Crusaders be asking people about Discord? "Did they say why they were asking about him?" she asked carefully. "I mean, they weren't playing some kind of game, were they?"

The older mare had no way of answering that question. Fluttershy wasn't even sure she heard her because she seemed to be too focused on looking out the window for the fillies in question.

"Excuse me," she said, trying to get her attention.

Mrs Cake looked back at her. "Yes?"

"Ummm... I don't want to sound like I'm prying or anything, but why are the Cutie Mark Crusaders asking you about Discord?"

Just as Mrs. Cake was about to answer she saw Sweetie Belle walking toward the shop. She gasped and ducked down, opening the door. "Maybe you should ask her yourself," she said, pushing the shy pegasus back out of the shop and slamming the door shut.

Fluttershy looked at the door then at the little filly. "Ummm...okay..." she trotted over to her, still having no clue what was going on.

Sweetie Belle rushed over to her excitedly. "Fluttershy!" she exclaimed. There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

"You were?" the mare blinked.

"Yes!" the filly grabbed part of the Pegasus mane in her teeth and started to pull her down the street. "Come on!"

Fluttershy really didn't have much of a choice with the little filly pulling on her mane. She also had no idea where she was taking her, but she figured she'd find out the answer to that question once they reached their destination.

A short time later the two ponies came running up to Rarity who looked up when she saw them.

"Sis!" her sister exclaimed. "Look who I found!"

Rarity looked up at Fluttshy then trotted over to her, a relieved expression on her face. "There you are, Fluttershy dear." she said. "I was beginning to wonder if something might have happened to you too."

"I'm fine," she said. "But-"

Before she could finish Applejack and Pinkie Pie came running up with a guilty looking Applebloom and Scootaloo in toe.

Rarity turned her head. "Oh my, what happened here?"

Applejack shot her little sister a glare. "Seems the Cutie Mark Crusaders haven't given up their ways," she replied. "I caught Applebloom and Scootaloo here interrogating Dr. Whooves after they tied him to a chair and shined a bright light in his eyes."

"We were only trying to see if our special talent was being police officers," Scootaloo protested.

"No offense, sugar cube, but now is not the time to focusing on finding your special talents," the brown mare went on. "We have a bigger problem right now."

Applebloom looked away sighing. "Yeah, we know," she said. "But it couldn't hurt to try getting them while we ask about Twilight."

"This isn't a game," her big sister told her. "How do you know Discord isn't torturing Twilight while y'all are fooling around like that?"

"We're sorry." the two fillies said, lowering their heads in shame.

Sweetie Belle trotted over to her friends and started to demand why they hadn't involved her. They responded by telling ehr she would have just messed everything up and there's no such thing as a neutral cop. As the three argued Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined their friends. "Any luck?" Applejack asked them.

"Not even a single hair," Rarity replied.

"What about you, Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked looking up at the pegasus. "Weren't you supposed to be getting Rainbow Dash? Where is she?" she looked on either side of her friend.

"I well... I couldn't find her," she replied.

They all stared at her, except the crusaders, who were still arguing. "What do ya mean ya couldn't find her?" Applejack wanted top know.

"Well I looked everywhere and asked everypony but none admitted to seeing her today," she answered softly.

The other mares all looked at each other with worried expressions. Were they thinking what she'd been thinking a few hours prior? That something had happened to her?

"No one has seen her at all today?" Applejack asked her after a moment.

She shook her head. "No, no one."

"That's odd." Rarity commented. "I know she's not always reliable but she wouldn't go off and hide herself from everyone."

Fluttershy nodded.

"Maybe she went to a party?" Pinkie Pie suggested. Then she frowned. "Why didn't she invite us to it?"

"No, I don't think she would do that," Fluttershy responded, shaking her head. "and Cloud's Dale isn't having any parties."

"Well then why haven't you found her?" Rarity wanted to know.

"I don't know..." the yellow pegasus said, nervously.

The other three ponies all looked at one another, frowning.

"Odd..." Applejack remarked.

The others agreed.

"It looks like we have two ponies to look for," Rarity said after a moment. "and I don't think we'll be getting any information about either of them here." she cast the still fighting Cutie Mark Crusaders a look.

"So what should we do then?" Pinkie Pie asked. "and..." she gasped. "What if Discord kidnapped Rainbow Dash too!"

Fluttershy stared at her and was about to make a comment when Rarity spoke up. "Oh don't be so dramatic, Pinkie Pie, of course he hasn't taken Rainbow Dash. She's too fast for him."

"Right," Applejack agreed. "But then again Rainbow Dash is impulsive. She might have seen him taking off with her though and tried to be a hero only to-"

"No!" Rarity cut her off. She didn't want to hear such things. "That is not what happened!"

"How do you know?" Pinkie Pie questioned. "She could have gone after him and he blew her up or turned her into a ballet dancing buffalo!"

"Now don't go jumping to conclusions," Applejack spoke up, giving Pinkie Pie a look. Did she really have to bring up those buffulo? It had taken the brown mare weeks to get that disturbing image out of her head. "There has to be a reasonable explanation for why she's not around today."

"I think we should look for her," Fluttershy spoke up. When the other ponies looked at her she added. "Just to make sure she's okay, of course. I'm not saying I agree with Pinkie Pie, not that her theory is bad or anything..." Though she secretly did with ehr friend's guess because she'd made the same conclusion earlier.

The other ponies agreed that finding Rainbow Dash would be a good idea. They even agreed that finding her might get them a bit closer to finding Twilight, especially if the pegasus really did see something and Discord did something to her to prevent it**.**"What about the Crusaders?" Applejack asked before they went off.

Rarity looked at them. She frowned, realizing leaving them behind might be a bad idea. Who knew what chaos they'd cause if they left them there?

"We'll have to take them with us," she concluded, nodding her head.

* * *

><p>Discord hummed a happy tune as he drug Twilight down the dark and cold halls of the castle. He seemed to suddenly be in a very good mood for some reason. Probably because Twilight had actually agreed to let him have his way and not fight him.<p>

Being drug down the hall was doing a number on Twilight's back and she was beginning to wonder how long he was going to drag her until they arrived at their destination. "Where are you taking me?" she demanded after about fifteen minutes of this.

"Now now, don't you worry your pretty little head about that," he said in a teasing voice. "You'll see when we get there, now you just keep your mare mouth shut and try to focus on not breaking anymore of the rules."

_But I don't even know what these rules are_, Twilight wanted to say. _You never bothered to tell me! _She wished he'd at least give her a hint as to what they were so she wouldn't risk breaking another one. It would make things a whole lot easier.

A short time later they entered a large room that looked like it was used for big events, like gala's or plays. He finally let go of the chain leash and allowed her to get up on her hooves. She shook her head as she stood up slowly before looking around herself.

He gave a tug on the leash. "Come, Twilight." he sad, pulling her along.

She went with him, taking in the interior of the room as they walked. The walls on both sides of the hall housed broken stained-glass windows with faded and graying images of the past. As she walked past each window she took in horrible battles and wounded and dying ponies. One of the windows even featured an image of Nightmare Moon but she didn't look evil, she looked sad.

"This was an old castle," he said as if reading her mind. "it was abandoned a long, long time ago."

She looked up at him. How did he know all of that? Had he been there for it? How could he have? He'd been turned to stone before Princess Luna had become Nightmare Moon. Maybe he'd just done research when he'd chosen this place as his hide out? Maybe that was the reason why he'd decuded on it.

Twilight didn't know and she wasn't going to ask him. She was sure he would just play a mind game with her if she did, confusing her and making her mad. He'd done it in the past and he wasn't any different now.

He looked down at her with a rose brow. "Why Twilight, this is totally unlike you," he observed. "You usually show a lot more interest in history. What makes this time any different, hmmm?"

The purple mare didn't respond to his probing. He could be trying to trick her again for all she knew and she had no intention of falling for it a second time. She merely looked away from him and focused on the broken windows, trying to figure out the story behind them for herself.

The best she could do was make up her own stories, since half of the windows were broken out, though she didn't see any broken glass shards littering the floor.

_Probably broken out instead of in,_ she thought. It sounded extremely logical. But who could have broken it? Raiders? A wild party guest? No, that would be silly. Discord?

Could he really have done such a thing?

She glanced up at him for a moment. Yes, he really could.

She knew he was bitter because of what the princesses had done to him in the past as well as what she and her friends had done recently. It was most likely what had happened.

_He probably saw the windows__, __went into a rage and burst them out,_ she thought. _That would explain why there's no glass on the floor. _

At that moment Discord stopped. "Oh Twilight~"

"What?" she turned her head to find his face right in her's. She gasped and backed up a step. "Don't do that!"

He grinned at her. "Why not? It's hilarious!"

"Can't you be serious for once?" she demanded, her face growling, her face hot with frustration.

"Now where's the fun in that?" he asked, disappearing and then popping up behind her. "If I were serious I'd be boring, and if I were boring I'd be just like you." he kept disappearing and reappearing all over the room. "and I don't want to be like you. I want to be like me and have a little fun for awhile, causing some madness and misery." he laughed. "What's wrong with playing a few jokes on people anyway?"

"They're not jokes, and they're not funny!" she shouted at him. "And stop popping up all over the place!" Why was she even trying to reason with him about that, anyway? Nothing she said would change his mind.

"Why not?" he appeared beside her and rested his elbow on the top of her head. "Does it bother you?"

Yes, it bothered her. It made it hard to concentrate on him too. "Just cut it out!"

He pouted. "Aww, you're no fun." he disappeared again and popped up right in front of her. "No wonder you never had any friends when you lived in Canterlot."

"I had friends!" she protested.

"Oh, really now?' he smirked. "Why don't we watch some home movies then?" he snapped his fingers and a screen appeared in front of them. "Titled: _Twilight's Boring Life_."

"No!" she exclaimed. "I don't want to-"

He snapped his fingers again and a couch appeared under them. He smirked as a remote appeared out of no nowhere, and a box of popcorn. "I love home movies, don't you?" he asked, laughing as he clicked PLAY and the movie started.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Of course**,** the other mares had no idea where to start looking for Rainbow Dash. Since Fluttershy had already searched the blue pegasus' usual haunts**,** they didn't have any real starting point. It only made things harder, seeing as they had to find Rainbow Dash before they could go after Twilight Sparkle and Discord. So, they all headed to the Ever Free forest to ask Zecora the zebra if she'd seen her.

The zebra was their last resort.

"I hope Zecora can tell us something," Fluttershy said quietly**,** as the ponies made their way to the zebra's home.

"I'm sure she can," Rarity said confidently. "Zecora knows everything."

"Okay..." Fluttershy wasn't sure of the validity of that statement**,** but she wouldn't argue.

"All right," Applejack exclaimed suddenly, turning to the still fighting Cutie Mark Crusaders. "I'm getting tired of your rough housing! Now knock that off**,** or I'll take you behind the wood shed!"

The fillies gasped, staring at him her shock. "You wouldn't!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"I would." she said in a dead serious tone.

The fillies backed up and nodded. "Okay, okay, we'll behave**...**"

"Good," the mare nodded with satisfaction. "and when we get to Zecora's**,** I want you all on your best behavior, got it?"

"Yes." they muttered.

Half an hour later**,** the group of ponies reached Zecora's house. Applejack trotted up to the door and raise a hoof to knock. "Zecora, you home?' she called out.

A moment later the zebra opened the door and greeted them, not really looking that surprised to have visitors.

"Um hi," Applejack said, looking at her. "I know you probably weren't expecting us but we wanted to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"You didn't happen to see a weird looking creature fly by where being chased by Rainbow Dash, did you?" she asked.

Zecora blinked at this odd questioned then pushed the door open slightly and invited them inside. The ponies looked at each other then followed her into the tree house.

* * *

><p>The movie started with her being born and from then it went through her entire life, including the horrible time she'd been in pony kindergarten. The purple unicorn winced as the ponies on the screen laughed at her little mistakes. It had been awful then but reliving it made it even worse. She'd been hoping to completely forget about those awful things and it didn't help that Discord was laughing his head off about it.<p>

When one of the ponies dumped paint on Twilight's head**,** she shouted**,** "Turn it off! I've seen enough!"

He chuckled, leaving the movie on but pausing it. "Something the matter, Twilight?" he asked her, looking down at the unicorn with amusement.

"Turn it off!" she snapped, looking up at him with firey eyes. "This isn't funny and you have no right to be showing this!"

"But I'm only showing it to you," he pointed out in a relaxed tone**,** as he leaned back against the couch. "Unless you want me to show it to your friends." he grinned. "I'm sure they'd love to see your delightful life story."

"No!" she exclaimed loudly then caught herself and lowered her voice. Flipping out was exactly what he wanted her to do. "I don't want them seeing it. It's personal." _and you shouldn't be watching it either!_

"Personal things are the most fun to show to your friends," he responded, grinning a toothy grin. "It helps them get to know you better." he laughed.

"She frowned at him. "How did you get all of this anyway?" she demanded.

"Have you forgotten I can do anything I want**,** and get anything I want," he replied. "Besides, it wasn't that hard to dig up information on you. You and your friends are a rather famous group of mares, you know."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"All famous people have to deal with this, even your princess," he replied, relaxing on the sofa. He popped a piece of popcorn in his mouth and chewed with a contented look on his face. "the paparazzi wants to keep the fans interested**,** so they follow the celebrity around and dig up dirt on them." he laughed. "It's so funny to watch the celebrities try to explain themselves and only make themselves look even more foolish."

Was he saying that was what happened here? Were people really following them around and looking for things to dig up on her and her friends? No, if that were true it would have been in the news papers and the ponies in ponyville would know about it**;** plus**,** she and her friends would have noticed people spying on them. But nothing like that had happened.

"You're lying." she said.

"Am I?" he looked at her again and his box of popcorn vanished. "have you ever wondered why the ponies in Canterlot have been treating you differently since the Princess sent you to Ponyville?"

Twilight hadn't even thought about that. What exactly was he trying to say here? That the ponies in Canterlot had somehow discovered everything about her and her friends and that was making them treat her like garbage?

Discord grinned at her. "I think the answer is rather obvious."

"No, it's not," she stated. "Canterlot ponies have always been like that. They aren't any different from before."

"If you say so." he turned back to the TV. "You can go on lying to yourself."

Twilight glared at him. She was not lying to herself. She was being perfectly honest, and how would he know anyway? Had he spent a lot of time in Canterlot? She doubted it but how would she be able to prove such a thing? He actually did sound like he had, or just made a passing sweep before he'd come to Ponyville to kidnap her.

Some questions were better off not being answered.

"Why don't we continue watching our home movie?" he asked, grinning at her and tossing the remote up and down in his hand. "It's getting to the good part and I don't want to miss out on all the fun."

"No, thank you." she turned to jump off the sofa.

"Now just a minute." he grabbed the chain and tugged on it, pulling her back ontp the couch beside him. "We're not finished watching the movie yet."

"I don't want to watch it!" she snapped.

"I want you to," he said to her. "Now sit down and watch it before I start crying."

She frowned at him. He had to be kidding. "That's not funny."

"Oh, you don't think that will hurt my feelings?" the remote turned into a tissue and he wiped his eyes. "Oh boo, hoo, hoo**!** You don't wanna watch TV with me. WAAAHHH!" he started crying a storm that began to flood the room. "You're such a meanie!"

"Okay!" she exclaimed, squirming away from the water as it slowly deepened. "I'll watch it with you!"

'That's better." he instantly stopped crying and the water drained out of the room with the sound of a flushing toilet. "Now where were we?" he turned back to the TV, the tissue turning back into a television remote.

Pressing the play button, Discord started it up again.

* * *

><p>"Somehow<strong>,<strong> I knew you would come to me," Zecora said as the mares came into her house. "To ask if those things I'd see."

"So you did see them?" Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing up and down.

Zecora nodded.

"When was this? Rarity wanted to know, leaning close to the zebra's face. "at what time?"

Zecora stepped back to give herself some space. She didn't like people standing so close to her, it made her nervous. "It was almost midnight," she replied. "That's when I saw the two in flight."

"So Rainbow Dash was chasing after Discord after all?" Fluttershy gasped in astonishment. Her guess was actually right**! ** She moved a bit closer to her. "Did you see what happened next?"

The zebra shook her head. "The outcome of this incident I did not see," she explained, looking sorry. "For the trees obscured the view eventually."

"Great..." Applejack grumbled. Now they would have to look for her.

She looked at the other mares in the room. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing. If they found rainbow dash they'd find Discord. That is**,** if Discord hadn't done anything to the rainbow**-**maned pegasus.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders on the other hand were too busy looking around Zecora's house, though they weren't touching anything**;** they didn't want to chance the brown mare making good on her threat.

"Do you have any idea where they might have flown to?" Rarity questioned the zebra further.

She shook her head, though she did suggest looking deeper into the forest.

The mares, having no other alternative decided to do just that, leaving the house with a warning from Zecora to watch their step and headed deeper into the gloomy forest.

* * *

><p>Twilight felt an awful pain in her chest at the movie of her life moved forward in time, going through more recently events of her life. She wished she could just make Discord turn the awful thing off and forget about torturing her with these horrible images. That was impossible, though. Discord liked getting under her skin and he already knew this movie bothered her, thanks to her previous reaction to it. She felt stupid for giving him what he wanted but she couldn't change what had happened.<p>

As the movie progressed it was all she could do not to freak out. She looked away from the screen, her expression growing more and more emotionless. If she couldn't stop him from playing the movie she'd at least stop herself from reacting to it.

Near the end of the move Discord give her another look, noticing how stone faced she had gotten. Frowning, he stopped the film, giving her a long hard look. This was not the reaction he was expecting at all. He wanted her to at least do some crying**,** like she'd done not too long ago. What was she doing now?

"You're not making this any fun," he whined, his voice making her jump.

The purple mare looked up at him expressionless. "Why would I want to make things fun for you**?**" she asked him. "Is that all I am? Some toy for you to play with?" she smirked. "Maybe you should have chosen someone else to get your kicks from."

He frowned, snapping his fingers. The TV, remote, and sofa disappeared making Twilight crash onto the floor. Discord didn't fall because he was ready for it. He hovered over her, his arms folded across his chest. "Twilight, I didn't take you just because I wanted to play with you." he said.

He didn't? "Then what was the point of kidnapping me?"

He grinned. "I wanted to play with you and I wanted you to enjoy it." he leaned toward her. "aren't you having fun yet?"

She backed away. "No, I'm not." she replied, hotly. "I thought that would be obvious by now."

Discord started to look annoyed. It seemed to him she was going out of her way to ruin his fun and he knew if she knew the real reason behind all of this she'd just make it worse. Like he'd tell her anyway, he enjoyed keeping her guessing but he knew eventually she'd figure it out.

"At least I was right about one thing," he said.

"What?"

"You _are_ boring."

"If I'm so boring let me go." she challenged.

"I have a better idea," he said. "I'll keep you around until you decide to be less boring." he snapped his fingers, making her disappear.

Twilight popped up in the dungeon cell again, once more chained to the wall.

* * *

><p>The four mares and three fillies headed deeper into the Ever free forest after Zecora wished them luck and warned them not to go near any strange creatures. As they walked<strong>,<strong> they called out Rainbow Dash's name hoping to get a response from the rainbow maned pegasus.

"How far do you think she followed him?" Rarity asked Applejack.

"I don't know**;** but knowing Rainbow Dash, she didn't give up easily..." the mare looked around, frowning.

"Does that mean Discord would hurt her to make her stop following?" Fluttershy asked, worriedly. "Do you think he turned her against us like he did before?"

"Of course not," Applejack said, shaking her head. Well she sure hoped not. That would be the worst thing to happen, especially since they didn't have Twilight Sparkle with them to break the spell. "He wouldn't be dumb enough to repeat the same trick twice."

"Besides," Pinkie Pie said, bouncing ahead. "With her wings**,** she's too fast for him to catch even with his teleporting powers**. **And Rainbow Dash would totally give him the old one two if he popped up in front of her face." she giggled to herself. "I wonder if he still makes those chocolate rain clouds..."

"Chocolate rain?" the cutie mark crusaders asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Yeah," Pinkie Pie told them. "Discord can create pink cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk!" she licked her lips, picturing the clouds and their sweet tasting condensation.

The cutie mark crusaders seemed to be getting excited about that, each picturing those clouds. Rarity and Applejack looked at each other and shook their heads, Fluttershy said nothing.

"Do do you think he'll give us some chocolate milk when we find him?" Scootaloo wanted to know.

"And cotton candy clouds?" Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"And marshmallows?" Apple bloom added excitedly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, jumping into the conversation. "Discord kidnapped Twilight remember? We're not going there to ask him for candy, he's the bad guy and he did a bad thing!"

"Oh yeah..." the fillies looked disappointed.

"Aw don't be so stiff," Pinkie Pie said to Applejack. "They're just kids. Let them have some fun."

"Now isn't the time to be thinking about that," she replied. "Discord is evil, if he gave you anything**,** he would have an ulterior motive for it." She was referring to what happened to Rainbow Dash when Discord had given her a choice**;** her wings or her friends. **O**f course**,** that had been a trick to begin with.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed, her voice loud enough to stop any other conversation.

All the ponies looked at her, surprised at how loudly she'd shouted. "I**,** umm**,** I mean..." she backed up, hiding behind her pink mane. "Rainbow Dash!" she called a lot more quietly.

"well I think we-" Rarity began to say but pinkie pie interrupted her. "Shhh! do you hear that?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The mares fell silent, listening intently for the sound to come again. Off in the distance Rarity thought she picked up the faint sound of a voice calling out.

"I think I hear someone yelling for help," Pinkie Pie spoke up after a moment.

"Do you think it could be Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked carefully. She hoped it was but she didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

"Don't know until we check," Applejack said to the others. She started to trot confidently ahead, heading toward the faint sounds. "Let's get going and see if we can find out who it is."

All the mares looked at each other and nodded. Spike held tightly to Rarity's back as they started moving through the forest. Now that they knew what had happened to Rainbow Dash finding her would be one step closer to finding Twilight Sparkle.

The ponies and the baby dragon moved through the forest, calling out and then stopping to listen for any reply they might get. A few times the voice didn't respond right away and they thought they'd lost it. But soon enough the voice grew louder as they slowly but surely drew closer to the source.

"That sounds like Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo commented after awhile.

"She sounds like she's hurt," Fluttershy stated, her face growing worried.

That didn't sound good at all. "Hurry!" Applejack ordered, galloping ahead. They had to find her and quickly.

* * *

><p>Twilight looked around her cell, feeling somewhat relieved that he'd decided to send her back At least she wouldn't have to deal with him for awhile. So it was a mixed blessing.<p>

"At least this gives me time to think of a way to escape," she told herself, pacing the cell. She still wore the chain and collar but now it wasn't attached to the wall. It had been at first but then it had unhooked when she'd tugged on it, allowing her to move around more freely. "And no Discord showing up and interrupting my thinking."

Or would he?

She looked at the crazy drawings on the wall. One of them actually looked a bit like him, odd mismatch of animals and all. Could he use that image to spy on her?

The unicorn trotted over to the drawing and rested her hooves on the wall, pressing her face closer to the image for a better look. It didn't move or do anything weird. It was just an average drawing.

"Hmmm..." she leaned closer, closing one eye and giving is a studious look.

Suddenly the picture exploded in a shower of colors.

Twilight Sparkle screamed and fell onto her back, taken by surprise. Laughter echoed through the room and one of Discord's eyes appeared on the wall where the image had been. "I've got my eye on you, Twilight. Hahaha!"

"Discord!" she shouted at him. "That's not funny!"

Discord continued to laugh at her until his eye vanished and the last echo of his merriment faded into nothingness.

Twilight groaned rolling onto her stomach and getting up, shaking her head. Great so he really was watching her after all; this would make things a whole lot more complicated.

She was going to have to be a lot more careful from then on when it came to planning. She would get put of there, even without her horn.

Her horn!

She'd completely forgotten about it! How was she going to get out of there if she didn't have it? She couldn't just leave without it! Would her horn come back if she did or would she be stuck without it for the rest of her life? Was it really gone or had Discord merely made it invisible to make her think she was completely helpless? Did she still have her magic? Could she try to use it now?

It couldn't hurt to try.

She sat down, closing her eyes and concentrating. "Come on, come on," she said, sweat starting to trickle down her pelt as she tried hard to get her magic to work. "You have to get me out of here. Come on horn, show yourself."

But nothing happened. Her horn really was gone and she had no magic to escape with.

Finally she gave up, sighing and flopping onto the floor. "I might as well forget about that," she said to herself, curling her hooves up. "If I'm going to get out of here I'm going to have to rely on my own skill and not on magic."

She looked around the cell again, trying to ignore the remains of the picture that had exploded in her face. She would have to avoid getting too close to the wall from then on. Who knew what other little unwanted surprises he had in store for her? She got up, giving the images suspicious looks.

"Not this time Discord," she said to the walls. "You're not going to get me again."

* * *

><p>Now that they knew where to look and thanks to the voice, finding Rainbow Dash was a whole lot easier. As the mares along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike galloped along, they continued calling out the pegasus name then listening for her. After not too long hey came to a large tree that was overgrown with vines.<p>

"Rainbow Dash?" Applejack called, looking around for her friend. "Are you here?"

"Yes!" the tom boy pony's voice yelled from above them. "I'm up here!"

The other mares lifted their heads and looked up into the tree. They spotted Rainbow Dash suspended above them, tangled up in a mess of vines. She looked like she'd been there for quite some time and she wasn't happy about it.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy gasped. "How did you get up there?"

The other pegasus squirmed franticly in the vines, trying to get out of the tangle. From below the others caught sight of pink substance on her pelt and saw that her tail and her mane were all messed up. She looked like she'd been in some kind of fight. "Discord," she said, sounding a little embarrassed.

Rarity swore under her breath. They should have known. "What did he do?" she called up to her.

"Get me down and I'll tell you!" the mare shouted, biting at the vines.

The ponies got to work getting their friend untangled and down from her vine prison. Rarity and Fluttershy wound up doing most of the work, the pegasus flying up to catch ehr friend as the unicorn used her magic to untangle her from the vines. Once she was down she shook herself to cast off the remaining plants then looked at her friends. "Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever get down."

"What happened?" Rarity asked her. "How did you wind up trapped in that tree?"

"Like I said, Discord knocked me into it." shes replied, looking irritated.

"How did he do that?" Applejack wanted to know. "Why don't you tell us?"

Rainbow Dash looked at the ponies, all the ponies, including Scootaloo and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike of course before she started her story.

* * *

><p>Twilight continued her pacing back and forth, wracking her brain for a good plan of escape. She closed her eyes, trying to form a map of the castle in her mind. She didn't remember much, even though she'd been drug practically everywhere in the castle. She wished she'd spent more time paying attention to her surroundings than trying to get Discord to quite dragging her around like a disobedient dog.<p>

"I know I saw an exit," she said to herself. "Just where exactly was it?" she lifted her head and looked out the bars on the cell door. She could see down the hall, which looked like a rainbow factory had blown up on the walls, at the door at the very end. If only she could reach that door then she'd be home free...

Or would she?

Discord had never taken her through that door, choosing to teleport her places instead. For all she knew the door led to a bottomless pit...

"I wouldn't put it past him," she muttered, now suspicious of the door. "Not at all..."

* * *

><p>What Twilight didn't know was Discord was watching her every move, through a glass bubble similar to a crystal ball. He held it in one hand as he leaned back against some pillows, listening to her talk to herself. He found her musings rather entertaining because he knew she wasn't even close to the truth in any of it.<p>

"You'll never figure it out, my dear Twilight," he chuckled, placing his hand on the sphere. "Not in a million years."

"And speaking of ponies..." He went on, starting to wonder bout her friends. He touched the bubble again, changing the image. "Why don't we check up on the other mares while we're at it?'

* * *

><p>"So I was busy clearing the sky so viewing the full moon would be easy when I saw this movement below me," Rainbow dash began her story as the ponies basically sat down around her. Well except for Spike. He was still on Rarty's back. "I got curious and flew down to see what it was. When I got close enough I saw that it was Discord and he had a sack over his shoulder that was moving around. When I was close enough I realized he had someone in that bag and figured I had better get it away from him before he escaped with whoever was in there."<p>

"What did you do?" Scootaloo asked, leaning forward with interest. Rainbow Dash was her idol so anything the pegasus did was awesome to her. "Did you go after him and get the sack away from him?"

"Well, I did go after him," she replied, blushing a little with embarrassment. She scratched the back of ehr head with her hoof. "I ordered him to drop the bag and hand over whoever was inside but, when he heard me he took off with it and I had to chase after him."

"And you stopped him, right?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well um..." the filly didn't seem to understand that the reason she wound up in the tree was because she hadn't succeeded. failing was soemthing Rainbow Dash hated doing but she had and she had to admit this to them, even if her biggest fan was there. "Not exactly. I went after him and managed to chase him all the way to the Ever Free Forest."

"How'd you wind up in the tree?" Sweetie Belle wanted to know.

Now she really did look embarrassed. "Bubblegum."

"Bubblegum?" all the other ponies asked in one voice.

"Yeah..." she tried to hide behind her mane.

"No offense, Rainbow Dash," Rarity spoke up. "But how could bubblegum prevent you from stopping Discord?"

"Well you see..." she looked down, blushing. "He used this like um... gun that shot bubblegum balls."

"Cool!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, suddenly very interested in the story. "Do you know where he got it!" It sounded like she intended to get one of those herself as soon as she could. "Do you? Do you?" she started bouncing up and down.

The other mares gave Pinkie Pie the death stare until she stopped hopping up and down. "Sorry." she said, sitting down and smiling nervously. "It just sounded cool. Can you imagine the fun we could have with a gun that shoots bubblegum?"

Applejack sighed as the other mares shook their heads. The Cutie Mark Crusaders seemed to agree with Pinkie Pie, though. the brown earth pony and looked back at Rainbow Dash. "Anyway, what did he do with this.. bubblegum gun?"

"Well he aimed it at me and fired and I wound up caught in this giant ball of pink bubblegum," she explained, opening her hooves up wide. "and no matter how much I hit the bubble it wouldn't pop!"

"So what happened?" Fluttershy wanted to know. "Did he fly away with the bag?"

"Not only that but he insulted me," she explained. "He said I was a big show off and you guys are only friends with me because you feel sorry for me!"

"That's not true," Fluttershy told her.

"I know that!" she exclaimed. "who wouldn't want to be friends with me?"

"Just continue the story," Applejack said to her before anyone could answer that question. "if you were stuck in the bubble and Discord got away how did you wind up in the tree?"

"Well umm..." she rubbed the back of her head with her hoof.

Applejack leaned toward her frowning. "I hope you're not going to keep that part of your story from us because you think we won't consider you cool anymore, Rainbow Dash." she said, closing her eyes halfway.

"What? No! Of course not!" she exclaimed. "Why would I think that?"

"I don't know," she said. "But if you're not I think you should tell us the entire story." she poked her in the chest. "_All_ of it."

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Well he didn't leave right away," she said. "For awhile he kinds of.. played around with the bubble I was in. He kept blowing it all over the place with me stuck inside it." she moved her hooves around as she spoke. "He was just pushing it around and laughing like a jerk when we were suddenly over this part of the forest. He looked down and I looked down and we seemed to be thinking the exact same thing. Only I wasn't happy about it and he found it amusing."

"So then what did he do?" Fluttershy wanted to know.

"He popped the bubble!" she exclaimed. "Boom! Next thing I know I'm falling and then I got tangled up in these vines." she sighed. "and he flew off, taking whoever was in the bag with him."

"So you didn't stop him?" Scootaloo asked, highly disappointed.

"No, sorry," she told her. "But next time I won't let him." she ruffled the smaller pegasus' mane. "and you can help me."

"Really?" she asked.

"Sure!"

Scootaloo gave an excited squeal.

"Just a moment," Rarity cut in. Everyone seemed to have forgotten the real reason why they were out there in the first place. "Much as I would love to see the two of you go against Discord, you seemed to be forgetting one thing." she gave Rainbow Dash a look. "The person in that sack needs to be rescued and fast."

"Oh yeah..." she nodded. "I wonder who it was anyway?"

"Twilight Sparkle."

The pegasus gasped, staring at the white unicorn with big eyes. She wasn't sure if she believed her or she thought she was lying. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"She's sure," Spike, who hadn't said much until then, spoke up. "we found her bedroom torn up and a piece of Discords fur on the floor." he showed Rainbow Dash the fur.

Rainbow Dash stared at it, surprised and bothered. "But why would he kidnap Twilight?" she wanted to know.

None of the mares or Spike could answer that question.

"That's what I intend to ask him when we find him," Rarity responded. "Until then..." she started walking further into the forest. "Come on. We've no time to lose."

"Wait!" Fluttershy called ater her. 'We don't know which way he went."

"We don't," Rarity said, turning around. "But Rainbow Dash might." she looked at her. "Did you see which direction he flew off with her?"

The mare thought a moment then pointed the way Rarity had started to head. 'That way!"

* * *

><p>Discord smirked as watched the ponies puzzled over the question then moved further into the forest. They would never figure it out, not in a million years. He set the orb down, chuckling. "This is all very interesting," he mused," But I wonder if I can make things a bit more interesting..."<p>

He placed both his hands on it and gave it a hard shake.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The group of heroes were moving quickly through the forest, going in the direction Rainbow Dash had seen Discord fly in, when suddenly the ground began to shake.

"Whoa! What's happening?" Applebloom asked, trying to keep her footing.

"Earthquake!" Rainbow Dash shouted, taking to the air. But as she was going up her wings suddenly vanished with a comical popping sound. "Huh!" she exclaimed before plummeting back to the ground and landing on top of Applejack.

"Hey, get off me!" the earth pony exclaimed, pushing at her.

"It's not my fault!" she exclaimed. "My wings disappeared!"

"What?" Applejack looked up at her. Rainbow Dash's wings were still there. She glared at her. 'Then what are those?" she asked pointing a hoof at them.

Rainbow Dash looked at her back and saw her wings had returned. "They disappeared, I swear!" she exclaimed.

That's when the shaking grew worse. "I don't mean to interrupt," Fluttershy said, her voice sounding weird because of the vibrations. "But maybe we should try to get out of here before something worse happens?"

The others were totally for the idea and they all took off.

The ground kept shaking under them as the group of mares and Spike, who was clinging to Rarity's back, galloped through the forest but nothing seemed to be falling over or breaking up. In fact, the animals they passed didn't seem to be aware that there was anything bad going on.

Applebloom noticed this and slowed down her pace before stopping and staring at the insane animals with a raised brow. What in the world?

"Hurry up, Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle shouted back to her. "This place looks like it's going to come in on itself."

She frowned at the animals once more then rushed after them. She didn't like the shaking ground either so she was more than happy to get away from it.

Before they got too far a giant Ursa Major suddenly appeared and roared at them.

"Run!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

They didn't have to be told twice. The ponies took off in a different direction with the giant creature chasing after them, growling and snarling.

* * *

><p>Discord watched the drama happening, laughing as he did. This was all too much fun! "I should mess with them more often," he said to himself. He bumped the orb and it blinked out. "I think that's enough fun for now. I wonder how my fair Twilight is doing?" The chaotic being vanished, appearing moments later as a chalk sketch on the wall of her cell.<p>

The purple mare was still pacing back and forth in her cell, wracking her brain for a way of escape out of this fun house of a jail.

Twilight lifted her head, spotting the picture of Discord on the wall. She frowned, pausing. Hadn't that thing blown up? How was it still in one piece? She trotted over to the picture and rested her hoof on the picture then quickly pulled it back. It didn't move.

"Hmmm..." she squinted, glaring at the image.

Suddenly it started wiggling as Discord lost his composure and began to laugh.

She gasped and backed up as the image magically became three dimensional and Discord suddenly appeared in the room. He laughed, falling over onto his back as she stood back and watched him. She recovered quickly and glared at him.

"That's not funny!"

"Not to you maybe but I found it hilarious" he cackled.

She grumbled to herself, moving further away from him as he laughed himself silly and rolled on the floor like a fool. Stupid jerk, why did he have to laugh at everything? The world wasn't funny and neither was he, even if he thought he was.

He rolled on his stomach and looked up at her, noticing her frowning. "Aww come on Twilight, why so serious all the time?"

"I laugh when things are funny," she told him. "and you're not funny."

Discord actually looked offended at her statement. He considered himself hysterical and here she was insulting his humor. "What would you know about funny anyway?" he demanded, suddenly serious. "You're just a boring little bookworm."

She stomped her hooves in annoyance. "What does that have to do with anything?" she demanded hotly. "Just because I read a lot doesn't mean I lack a sense of humor."

"Oh yeah?" he smirked evilly and leaned his head forward. "Prove it."

Prove it? She blinked, confused by his statement. "How?"

He snapped his fingers and suddenly she was on a stage with mike in front of her and a spotlight shining down on her. Discord sat in a chair at a table that was covered with a red table cloth below the stage. "Tell me a joke," he challenged, sipping a martini glass full of chocolate milk.

She stood there, frowning. Did he really expect her to do that? If he did he was crazier than she thought.

He frowned. "Come now," he said impatiently. "You said you don't lack a sense of humor. Surely you know a few jokes, Twilight, so go ahead and tell me them," a big set of ears appeared on his head. "I'm all ears."

"You've got to be kidding!" she snapped. "I don't have to prove to you anything!"

He yawned. "You're already off to a bad start."

"I am not going to tell you jokes!" she snapped, stomping a hoof onto the stage.

Discord leaned back in his chair. "Well then my opinion stands, you're not funny and you don't know what funny is." he smiled at her, getting an idea. "How about this; you tell me one joke and I won't ask again?"

Twilight stared at him. Did he really mean that or was he fooling around with her again? Then again that was better than nothing and if she did he might just go away and she could go back to figuring out how to escape this place. It was basically a win win situation. "Do you promise?" she demanded.

He grinned at her. "Of course." he said.

"Fine." she stood still, trying to remember some of the jokes Pinkie Pie had told her occasionally. She said the first joke that came to mind. "Umm... what did the sharpener say to the pencil?"

"What?"

"I see your point."

Silence, except for the sound of crickets.

Ater a moment Discord chuckled, shaking his head. "You're terrible at this." he commented. "Try again."

"You said I only had to tell you one!" she exclaimed.

He grinned at her. "I lied."

She stomped a hooves in frustration. "I'm not going to tell you another joke!" she shouted, irritated.

Discord folded his arms and leaned back in his hair. "Then I guess you're going to be standing on that stage for a long time." he retorted.

Twilight sighed, flopping onto the stage. Great, just great.

* * *

><p>"How are we going to get that thing to stop chasing us?" Rarity asked Applejack as the group of rescuers galloped through the forest as fast as their hooves could take them. The Ursa Major was still right behind them, not slowing down at all. "If we don't it's going to eat us and I don't want to be dinner! I'm too glamorous to be the meal of an ugly monster!"<p>

Applejack looked back at the creature, trying to figure out how to deal with this thing. It was huge, mean, and quite possibly hungry. It also looked like it had no intention of giving up the chase any time soon. Whatever she did she would have to do it fast.

"Umm... let me think," she said, looking back at Rarity. "We have to make it stop chasing us, but I'm not exactly sure how we're going to be able to do that."

"Well think of something!" Rarity screamed right into her ear making her grit her tetth and pull her head away.

"I have an idea!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, shooting into the air.

The pegasus flew up into the trees and came down with some vines in her mouth. She flew back at the creature with the vines and wrapped them around it tightly. "Ha! I'd like to see you get out of that!" she said smugly.

The Ursa roared and easily broke free from the vines.

"Uh oh.." she stared at it.

The monster roared and swatted her, knocking her away. She yelled, flying backward until she slammed into a tree and crumbled to the ground. She didn't get back up.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy exclaimed, looking back at her. "We have to help her!"

Applejack was about to suggest something but Scootaloo ran past her. "I'll save her!" she exclaimed.

"Scootaloo!" Fluttshery shouted after her, taking off into the air as if she was going to fly after her. "Get back here, it's too dangerous!"

"I'll get her!" Applejack called to her, rushing after the filly.

Scootaloo didn't even look back as she galloped toward Rainbow Dash. She fully intended to rescue her and teach this creature not to mess with her idol. She didn't care how big or mean it was.

By then the Ursa Major was looming over Rainbow Dash who was attempting to get back on her hooves. She saw the beasts's shadow cast over her and she looked up, her eyes widening. "Uh oh..."

The giant bear drooled and roared into her face, blowing her main backwards.

"Hey you!" Scootaloo shouted, rushing at it. "Leave her alone!"

The creature looked away from the rainbow mained pegasus now focusing all its attention on the filly dashing toward it. It faced her fully, placing its paws on the ground and leaning down to roar into her face.

Scootaloo skidded to a halt right in front of the thing, her face screwed up in terror and her main blown behind her.

"Move!" Applejack shouted, galloping over to her. She had a lasso in her mouth and was twirling it. Hopefully it would work better than the vines Rainbow Dash had tried to use.

Scootaloo didn't hesitate. She rushed away from the creature which decided to follow her, growling and snarling.

Applejack cursed, and changed course, rushing after both of them. She came up behind them and just as she was about to lasso the creature it disappeared!

"What in tarnation!' she exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Huh?" scootaloo looked over her shoulder and stopped, causing the older mare to run into her.

The other ponies came running back moments later. 'What happened?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking around for the creature. "Hey, you guys did a great job scaring that monster away!"

"We didn't care it away," Applejack corrected, getting up off the ground. "It disappeared."

Rarity and the others looked around, confused. "Disappeared?" Rarity asked, sounding like she didn't believe her. "Really Applejack, surely you don't expect us to believe such a thing."

"She's telling the truth," Rainbow Dash replied, walking over to them, her main blow to the side of her head in a comical way which made Pinkie Pie burst out laughing. "I saw the whole thing. The moment she tried to catch it is vanished into thin air!" she shot the pink mare a dirty look.

"What?" Rarity looked around, trying to come up with a rational explanation for it.

She saw nothing though and that made this all the more confusing. "Where did it go?"

"I told you!" Applejack responded, shaking dirt off her hat. "It disappeared!"

* * *

><p>Twilight Sparkle continued to try staring Discord down. She was not going to tell him anymore jokes and he wasn't going to trick her into doing it. He could sit there as long as he wanted to for all she cared.<p>

"Come on now, Twilight," he said, resting his chin on the bird claw of his left hand. "Surely one joke isn't going to hurt you."

"I already told you a joke!" she shouted at him impatiently.

"I meant a good joke," he responded, smirking as he sipped out of a martini glass. "The one you told was lame."

"I told you I don't know any good jokes!" she snapped. "I'm not Pinkie Pie! If you want someone to tell you a good joke go ask her!"

"I don't want to hear a joke from her," he responded. "I want to hear one from you, now get to it."

She groaned and got back up on all four hooves, trying to think of anything that sounded like a joke. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" it was the first thing that came to mind, even if it was the oldest and lamest joke in the book.

He blinked. "What?"

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" she said again, annoyed. Did he always have to make her repeat herself?

He stared at her without a word.

"To get to the other side!" she grinned goofily though it hurt her face.

For the longest time Discord gave no reaction then, after about ten minutes, he burst out laughing.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The group of rescuers looked around in confusion. Where had the monster gone? Had it really disappeared into thin air, or was it just hiding in the trees waiting for another chance to strike?

"Do you think it's hiding in the trees?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.  
>"It's not hiding!" Scootaloo exclaimed, annoyed. "It disappeared! It's gone!"<br>"How could that creature disappear so easily?" she wondered aloud, mind flying back to when Discord terrorized Ponyville. If the others were right, then it created even more problems. "Well, there's no need for us to continue hanging around here." she cleared her throat and started to trot deeper into the forest. "Let's continue then, shall we girls?"

Each of the ponies looked at each other in a fleeting moment of uncertainty before they followed after Rarity. Applebloom kept looking over her shoulder, expecting something else to come jumping out at them.

"Come on, sugarcube," Applejack called back to her. "You don't want to be left behind."

"Coming!" the filly shouted, galloping after her sister. 

000 

Twilight was justifiably surprised by Discord's reaction to her rather silly little joke. In fact, Twilight herself did not find it all that amusing, she considered it one of the worst jokes she'd ever had the misfortune of being told.  
>She frowned up at him, feeling irritated instead of relieved. She'd gotten him to laugh, which merited several trophies, at the very least. She figured he'd take his leave, now that he had been amused momentarily.<p>

After a moment he calmed down and looked down at her, grinning. "Now see?" he asked, leaning back in his seat. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Twilight made a face. If only he knew. "Can I go back to my cell now?" she asked him, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice, fearing his reaction if he heard it.  
>He looked at her, smirking. "Oh, very well." he snapped his fingers and she was once again in her cell, only it was completely inverted.<p>

Discord hadn't followed her this time, choosing to appear elsewhere in the castle to attend to other matters. He had not entirely appreciated the joke Twilight had told him; instead it was her expression and tone that had been the real things to made him laugh. He wanted to keep up his facade, however. For a brief moment she hadn't looked like the annoying serious pony he was used to at all. She'd looked different and he wanted to see that again.

That, however was the problem. Twilight was an incredibly serious pony, almost a stranger to mirth. It would take a lot of careful planning.

Discord summoned a bed and flopped down onto it. How was he going to crack open her shell? What would be the easiest way to do so? He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "What would make Twilight Sparkle crack?"  
>His strange, but analytical mind started to race through all he had learned about her from his research. To help himself think, he created chaotic illusions on the ceiling he had his yellow eyes fixed on. Many found chaos to be a distraction; Discord, however, found it to be a rare solace.<p>

000 

"I'm sure he flew off this way," Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she rushed ahead of her friends through the Ever Free Forest, staying low so they could see her through the trees. "and then he must've flown off um..." she paused, hovering in the air as she tried to remember where Discord had gone after that.

"Don't tell me you don't remember," Applejack said, frowning up at her.

"I do so!" she exclaimed. "I just have to think for a moment!"

All the ponies present stopped, waiting for Rainbow dash to remember what she'd witnessed. Dash was too proud to admit that she had missed a lot of what happened due to Discord trapping her in bubblegum and vines. She'd never admit this, though.  
>Fluttershy took to the air and hovered beside her. "Take some deep breaths and calm down," she suggested. "We won't pressure you."<p>

Rainbow Dash complied, closing her eyes and concentrating on what had happened.

'There you go," she said. "That's better. Ready to try again?"

Rainbow dash nodded and looked around slower, taking everything in and trying to remember what she'd seen in that split second before he'd disappeared from her view. "He went this way," she finally said, pointing a hoof off to the North. "I'm sure of it!" She zoomed ahead before any of her friends could respond only to fly back a second later. "Oops, I forgot you guys can't fly."

Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes. "Let's just move on," she said haughtily. "And fly slower, most of us can't go as fast as you."

"I'll remember that." she flew ahead, going much slower now.

"They walked along for a moment before Pinkie Pie shrieked suddenly, drawing everyone's attention.  
>"What now?" Applejack asked, concerned.<p>

"We're heading north!" she exclaimed.

"So?" the earth pony asked.

"Don't you know what's up North?" she demanded.

The ponies looked at each other. "What's up North?" Rarity asked her.

"The abandoned Castle of the royal sisters!" she exclaimed. "It sits on the top of Misery Mountain and it hasn't been used in over a thousand years! It's rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of ponies who died fighting against Nightmare Moon!" she placed her hooves on her cheeks. "It's cursed!"

"Cursed?" Applejack frowned.

"Yes!" She put her hooves on Applejack's cheeks. "Cursed and filled to the brim with evil ghosts!"

"Really?" Applebloom asked nervously, backing up and wearing an expression of fear.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, raising her hooves above her head. "An evil curse! They say if you go there and try to steal the treasure the ghosts will come and chase you and if you stop running they will get you and kill you!"

"I want to go home!" Sweetie Belle whimpered.

Applebloom and Scootaloo shared the same sentiments and started to move away. "Umm, I just remembered I have to clean my room," Scootaloo squeaked.

"I need to um... help Granny Smith clean out the basement!" Applebloom added.

They started to leave hastily.

"Whoa there!" Applejack exclaimed, galloping in front of them to block their path. "You can't go running through the Ever Free forest all by yourselves!"

Scootaloo, who was in front, skidded to a stop when Applejack blocked her. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom crashed into her from behind.

"But we know our way through the forest," Svootaloo insisted, looking up at the brown earth pony. "We've been here lots of times." her friends nodded in agreement. "Yeah!"

"Oh, have you?" Applejack frowned at them. Rarity heard the conversation and waked over, looking mad. "Sweetie Belle, have you been coming in here without telling anyone?" she demanded.

"Well kinda..." she said, looking nervously at her big sister.

Rarity had been unaware her sister was sneaking off into the forest by herself, but was more concerned of why she had wanted to venture to such a dangerous place alone.  
>"How could you do such an irresponsible thing?' she demanded.<p>

"I'm sorry..." she said softly. "I just wanted to get my cutie mark."

"This cutie mark obsession is getting out of hand!" she snapped.

"Whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash cut in. "Time out!" making a T formation with her hooves, she continued; "I think we're getting off topic here! We're here to save Twilight, not argue about cutie marks!"

"Twilight?"

"Yeah, remember her? The egghead unicorn that got kidnapped by Discord?" she put her hooves on her hips. "You guys sure forget things fast."

"We didn't forget," Rarity said rather hotly. "I was merely lecturing my little sister about going places she shouldn't without having an adult to supervise her." She stomped a hoof. "I think I'm perfectly justified to lecture her now and I believe Twilight would agree with me."

"Hello?" Spike spoke up suddenly. "Not to jump in on a family problem but I think you all forget who has Twilight and what he could be doing to her right now." He folded his arms, glaring.

His argument seemed to sink in. They all looked at each other, realising the severity of their digression.

"Now come on," he said. "Forget about who did what without permission. We have a unicorn to save!" 

0000 

Twilight sparkle was pacing her cell, getting increasingly edgy. It had been hours since Discord had bothered her and she was expecting him to pop up any minute and 'test' her again. The fact she knew it would happen, but didn't know when made her wait all the more excruciating.  
>"I'll be ready for it," she told herself. "He won't get the jump on me this time."<p>

She paused, looking at the insane drawings on the wall, some of which appeared to have moved a few inches.  
>"Nope, I'm - onto you," She stuttered to the walls, sounding a bit paranoid. "You're not - going to sneak up on me this time!" <p>

000

Discord was watching her activity through a bubble and found it incredibly amusing how antsy she was getting.

"Hmmm... I wonder what's on Miss Sparkle's mind," he mused, rubbing his chin. "Could she possibly be losing her sanity?" He chuckled to himself. Probably not. She didn't seem like the type who'd lose control of the situation so easily.

Pony nature was incredibly unpredictable, on the other claw.

He chuckled and sauntered over to a window. "I think I'll see how the other little mares are doing..." 

000000 

After the mares managed to get their priorities straight, and after Applejack and Rarity agreed to postpone their lectures to later date, much to the relief of their siblings, the group continued their North-ward bound quest to save their friend.  
>As they walked, Fluttershy couldn't help noticing the weather was beginning to turn for the worst; the sky becoming overcast and the wind picked up.<p>

Sweetie Belle whimpered audibly and slowed down.

Rarity paused and looked back at her. "What is it?" she asked.

"Umm..." she shifted from hoof to hoof."I don't want to sound like I'm complaining but have you noticed the weather is getting rather..." Thunder rumbled and she squeaked. "Scary?"

The others looked up into the sky just as a bolt of electricity split the sky. Sweetie Belle shrieked and hid behind her sister, as did Applebloom. Scootaloo didn't react in an attempt to look brave in front of Rainbow Dash. She decided she wasn't afraid of lightning, anyway.  
>Thunder, on the other hand...<p>

It exploded sending her running behind Rainbow Dash who rolled her eyes. "It's just thunder," she told her. "We make it in Cloudsdale all the time."

"But what if it's not normal thunder?" Scootaloo asked her. "What it its being created by that ghost Pinkie Pie was talking about?"

"That's just a story," She told her. "A silly story Pinkie Pie made up."

"I did not make it up!" Pinkie Pie shouted over the thunder. "It's common knowledge!"

"It's just a legend." Applejack sighed. "Now really isn't the time for your ghost stories."

"They're not ghost stories!" She insisted. "They're-" Pinkie Pie was cut off by Spike putting a hand over her mouth. "Can we forget about the ghost stories and focus on why we're here?" he asked, annoyed as Pinkie made efforts to continue speaking from behind his palm.  
>"I'd love to but-" lightning flashed once again, making Fluttershy flinch. "But it's far too scary to not think about it, don't you think? It's all too coincidental."<p>

Spike looked up at the sky. "Pretend they're fireworks," he told her, subtly disclosing his own method.

"They look nothing like fireworks!" Fluttershy retorted.

"Use your imagination," he sighed. "Play pretend."

"Oh, oh! I love this game!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, excited. "Can I play too?"

"Sure you can," Rarity said, giving her a push. "Just as long as you keep on moving."

Finally, the group started moving again, Pinkie Pie watching the sky eagerly.

Just then, lighting flashed. "Oh, there goes a green one!" She shouted, rushing ahead. "Wooo!"

"Hey, wait up!" Rarity shouted, chasing after them with Rainbow Dash and the Cutie Mark Crusaders close behind.

"Wait for me, Rarity!" Spike huffed at the sudden movement of the group.

Applejack glanced over at Fluttershy who shook her head. "At least they're moving now," Fluttershy remarked, clopping after them.

"Wait for me!" the other pony called, not wanting to be left alone. 

0000 

Discord frowned, staring into the bright sphere that showed the rescue parties' progress. They were getting close which meant his little prank from earlier had done nothing to deter them. "This is no fun." he pouted. "Looks like I'm going to have to play even dirtier."

He shook the orb, chuckling to himself. Time for some more fun.


End file.
